2000 Unbiased Reviews Since 1999
or Browse:
Type
Brand
Price
Need
Browse By Type Find the digital camera that fits your needs
Browse By Brand Find a digital camera from your favorite brand
Browse by Price Choose a max price using the slider below
Max Price
Any

$150.00

Any Price
Buying Guides Find the perfect digital camera for... See more
Jump to a part
Advertisement

Nikon Coolpix S710 First Digital Camera Impressions Review

First Impressions Review

Previous: Page 2

Components

Next: Page 4

Modes
October 02, 2008 By Richard Baguley
0 Comments
(add your own)

Model Design / Appearance
Nikon refers to the S710 as the 'World’s most compact design,' but there are a couple of asterisks on that. First is that this claim is only amongst 14-megapixel cameras with optical image stabilization, which narrows the field down significantly. And secondly, it is no longer true; the Samsung TL34HD has both 14-megapixel resolution and optical image stabilization. Nikon gets around this by adding this note: 'Among 14-megapixel compact cameras equipped with optical vibration reduction as of August 7, 2008,' but  they really ought to update their web site now we are in October and the claim is no longer true. Which is not to say that the S710 has anything to be ashamed of in its figure: at one inch thick, it's a pretty small camera that would fit neatly into a shirt pocket or smallish handbag.

Size and Handling
The S710 fits fairly comfortably into the hand; the index finger falls right onto the shutter and the thumb falls onto the area below the zoom control. However, we did find that it was somewhat prone to slipping when we moved the thumb to zoom in or out. The zoom control really needed two hands to use comfortably without the camera slipping.


We found that the Nikon S710 was somewhat prone
to slipping when using the zoom control


Menu
The S710 has slightly unusual menu structure, with various options appearing on a circular dial when you hit the mode button. You can scroll around this list with the scroll wheel, and select the required option with the select key in the middle of the dial.  It's a slightly confused approach, but it seems pretty easy to figure out once you grasp how it works.

 

When you hit the menu button (or select the setup option from the mode menu), you get a more conventional list-style menu that can be scrolled down using the multi selector either as a scroll wheel or a directional control. Some of these menus are rather long, but the screen includes a small guide in the top right corner that shows which screen you are on. The setup menu is about 4 screens long, so finding an option on this menu can be a somewhat tedious exercise.
  

Ease of Use
Overall, the S710 is a moderately easy to use camera, with most of the features easily accessible. Changing the scene mode isn't that easy, as you have to hit the mode button, scroll around the menu to the the screen option, click on the select button, then select the new scene mode. That all takes a fair amount of time; it would have been preferable to have some way of jumping straight to the scene mode menu. However, you do have the option of simply putting the camera into scene auto selector mode, where the camera automatically picks the scene mode to use, based on the preview image.
Loading Recently Viewed Products
Advertisement

Latest News
& Reviews

Top Rated Digital Cameras

Features

Jump to a part

Shop for the Canon S100

Advertisement
Nikon Coolpix S710 First Digital Camera Impressions Review
First Impressions Review
0 Comments
(add your own)

Previous: Page 2

Components

Previous: Page 4

Modes